TES: Ofsted: Nude pupil pictures not a safeguarding issue

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Ofsted's chief inspector has suggested that male pupils sending naked photographs of themselves to female classmates is not a safeguarding issue for schools.
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Amanda Spielman was taking questions from the Commons Education Select Committee this morning, following her watchdog's publication of a major report last week telling headteachers to act on the assumption that sexual harassment is happening in their schools.

Today she was asked by Ian Mearns, Labour MP for Gateshead: "When is an allegation of sexual harassment involving a child not a safeguarding issue?"

Ms Spielman replied: "I have talked recently, for example, to a sample of girls who had left school within the last two years. Only one of them was able to say that they had never been sent an image by a boy of…a photograph of their naked selves.

"Most of the girls laugh that off and think it’s contemptible. They would not want to be pulled into sort of safeguarding procedures by reason of being sent a photograph that they think is simply contemptible."

Mr Mearns then asked: "Is it not a safeguarding issue for the boy who sent the photograph as well - in terms of their behaviour, and what else they’re likely to be getting up to?"

Sex abuse in schools: Girls being sent naked photos 'common', says Ofsted
Ms Spielman replied: "There’s a spectrum here and the advisers we had on the reference group were really helpful on this – in sexual misconduct of every kind there is a spectrum from the truly evil and appalling at one extreme all the way down to things which are essentially clumsy explorations of emerging adolescent sexuality."
www.tes.com/news/ofsted-nude-pupil-pictures-not-safeguarding-issue

I'm not sure what to say really. I guess it may have been badly reported, or safeguarding means something different to teachers than it does to laypeople?

But it seems to be saying that sending nude photographs is just a "clumsy exploration of emerging adolescent sexuality", not something to be concerned about. She seems to have no understanding that sexual abuse often starts at the lower end of the spectrum she describes, and then escalates. S

Bad rap? For saying girls should laugh it off when boys send nudes? No! It's not funny. It's not safe. In schools particularly, young women and children should be protected from abuse, not told to suck it up.

Parliamentary report on sexual assault and harassment of girls in schools was published in 2016

The evidence we have gathered shows sexual harassment and sexual violence operate on a continuum. Tackling sexual harassment in its early stages can prevent more serious forms of sexual offence. A 2013 Joint Inspectorate study of young sex offenders found that in almost half of the cases there was documented evidence of the young men and boys exhibiting previous “concerning sexualised behaviour” that was either not identified at the time or was subject to disbelief, minimisation and denial by professionals and families—crucially missing the opportunity to intervene and prevent abuse

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmwomeq/91/91.pdf

Ofsted failed to take this seriously until now when forced to do so because girls organised to publicise how widespread it is.

@DoingItMyself

Bad rap? For saying girls should laugh it off when boys send nudes? No! It's not funny. It's not safe. In schools particularly, young women and children should be protected from abuse, not told to suck it up.

She didn't say girls should laugh it off. She said many girls did laugh it off.

What the hell. I can't believe what I am reading.

I am SO thankful I grew up when the world was not quite as mad and smart/camera phones were not a thing.

I did endure about 18 months of sexualised bullying and the school did absolutely nothing about it... but at least it wasn't like this.

That will be the 'boys will be boys' defence of abusive behaviour. Nice one, Ofsted.

@Farwest

That will be the 'boys will be boys' defence of abusive behaviour. Nice one, Ofsted.

Oddly enough that is the exact phrase "boys will be boys" that the mother of ds's classmate used when she messaged me to supposedly apologise (she searched me out on facebook but I blocked her)

@Comefromaway Sadly, it's not an odd coincidence that she said 'boys will be boys'. It is the standard response to harassment of girls, women and in your case, other boys or men. It's disgusting and should always be called out. I'm so sorry that your ds had to go through that. I hope he is okay now.

Obviously being sent nude photos of boys (or in your ds's case the even worse situation of having a photo taken unwillingly) is totally unacceptable, and the very fact that it is utterly ubiquitous is the very reason Ofsted should be looking to crack down hard.

If a male colleague sent me an unsolicited nude photo, clearly I'd be straight onto HR and he'd very likely be sacked. Even if he did it out of hours. Even if he claimed it was a mistake. But I'm to expect my teen dd's to just accept that harassment because 'boys will be boys'? Even with the added issue of child pornography thrown in?

I agree. It was 5 years ago now and he doesn't talk about it but he is very aware of male toxicity. He was very upset at the time.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to criminalise a 12 year old. Kids make mistakes. But the child in question needed to be given a very strong message for the future that this was unacceptable (and my ds needed the re-assurance that the photo HAD been deleted as he only had this boys word for it) and that he should not be subject to this kind of behaviour. Ds left the school 6 months afterwards.

@Comefromaway

I agree. It was 5 years ago now and he doesn't talk about it but he is very aware of male toxicity. He was very upset at the time.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to criminalise a 12 year old. Kids make mistakes. But the child in question needed to be given a very strong message for the future that this was unacceptable (and my ds needed the re-assurance that the photo HAD been deleted as he only had this boys word for it) and that he should not be subject to this kind of behaviour. Ds left the school 6 months afterwards.

That's terrible. I do fear for my kids sometimes.

I imagine one of the reasons Ofsted is downplaying it is because it's so prevalent at schools.
It's a bit like why the police don't prosecute misogyny. They'd be very busy.
Of course, it doesn't address the problem and then it does get so out of hand so you can't do anything about it.
The time to tackle this was probably about five years ago.

I tried to write a comment on the Times website about this article. It was refused by their moderators. Because I might offend adult readers with the mere words “dick pic” - but it’s apparently fine for underage girls to receive the actual images.
I’m beyond livid.

@littlbrowndog

Yep. She focused on the girls receiving the dick pics rather than the boys sending them

Says much about her

It's just victim blaming, and Ofsted relinquishing its role as the adult in the room. "We can't do anything about it if the girls won't report it because they don't want to face the safeguarding consequences." Well, that means you need to make sure that the safeguarding procedure does the maximum to protect those reporting and ensuring that they are in no way made to feel in trouble, to blame or guilty of the consequences dealt to the perpetrator.

But that horse has probably already bolted, as most schools teach girls from the outset that they are either responsible for, have control over, or should forgive/be kind about boys' bad behaviour.

Ofsted have responded to me saying they are looking into the ‘complaint’ and will respond further after it has been investigated.

She didn't say girls should laugh it off. She said many girls did laugh it off

And left it there. Suck it up, girls.
She should have been beside herself with fury that young women experience this abuse in schools.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Ofsted have responded to me saying they are looking into the ‘complaint’ and will respond further after it has been investigated.

I just got an email to confirm they received mine, followed by one with a survey on the quality of their response. Given they haven’t addressed my complaint at all, I gave them inadequate on every count, which gave me some pleasure.

Oh yeah, so did I!